America still has significant resources, natural resources, intellectual resources, infrastructure resources, human resources. America has lots of "potential". So I don't want to be too negative on things, BUT if you are thinking that a great renaissance is right around the corner,
you should assess the reality of the current situation.
Further to that, because
we as a country have refused to fix the fundamental problems, and instead have chosen to try to print prosperity and a number of other completely dysfunctional coping strategies (like socialism), those simply mean that any Turnaround is still far away. Here are 34 reality checks.
Excerpted from the Daily Sheeple, who sourced this from---
http://endoftheamericandream.com/
The following are 34 signs that America is in decline…
#1 According to the World Bank, U.S. GDP accounted for
31.8 percent of all global economic activity in 2001. That number dropped to
21.6 percent in 2011. That is not just a decline – that is a freefall. Just check out the chart in
this article.
#2 According to The Economist, the United States was the best place in the world to be born into
back in 1988. Today, the United States is only
tied for 16th place.
#3 The United States has fallen in the global economic competitiveness rankings compiled by the World Economic Forum
for four years in a row.
#4 According to the Wall Street Journal, of the 40 biggest publicly traded corporate spenders,
half of them plan to reduce capital expenditures in coming months.
#5 More than three times as many new homes were sold in the United States
in 2005 as will be sold in 2012.
#6 America once had the greatest manufacturing
cities on the face of the earth. Now many of our formerly great
manufacturing cities have degenerated into
festering hellholes. For example, the city of Detroit is on the verge of financial collapse, and one state lawmaker is now saying that “
dissolving Detroit” should be looked at as an option.
#7 In 2007, the unemployment rate for the 20 to 29
age bracket was about 6.5 percent. Today, the unemployment rate for
that same age group is
about 13 percent.
#8 Back in 1950,
more than 80 percent of all men in the United States had jobs. Today,
less than 65 percent of all men in the United States have jobs.
#9 If you can believe it, approximately one out of every four American workers makes
10 dollars an hour or less.
#10 Sadly,
60 percent of the jobs lost during the last recession were mid-wage jobs, but
58 percent of the jobs created since then have been low wage jobs.
#11 Median household income in America has fallen for
four consecutive years. Overall, it has declined by over $4000 during that time span.
#12 The U.S. trade deficit with China during 2011 was
28 times larger than it was back in 1990.
#13 Incredibly,
more than 56,000 manufacturing
facilities in the United States have been shut down since 2001. During
2010, manufacturing facilities were shutting down at the rate of
23 per day. How can anyone say that “things are getting better” when our economic infrastructure is being
absolutely gutted?
#14 Back in early 2005, the average price of a gallon of gasoline was
less than 2 dollars a gallon. During 2012, the average price of a gallon of gasoline has been
$3.63.
#15 In 1999,
64.1 percent of all Americans were covered by employment-based health insurance. Today, only
55.1 percent are covered by employment-based health insurance.
#16 As I have written about
previously, 61 percent of all Americans were “middle income” back in 1971 according to the Pew Research Center. Today, only
51 percent of all Americans are “middle income”.
#17 There are now
20.2 million Americans that spend more than half of their incomes on housing. That represents a 46 percent increase from 2001.
#18 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the poverty rate for children living in the United States is
about 22 percent.
#19 Back in 1983, the bottom 95 percent of all
income earners in the United States had 62 cents of debt for every
dollar that they earned. By 2007, that figure had soared
to $1.48.
#20 Total home mortgage debt in the United States is now
about 5 times larger than it was just 20 years ago.
#21 Total credit card debt in the United States is now
more than 8 times larger than it was just 30 years ago.
#22 The value of the U.S. dollar has declined
by more than 96 percent since the Federal Reserve was first created.
#23 According to one survey,
29 percent of all Americans in the 25 to 34 year old age bracket are
still living with their parents.
#24 Back in 1950,
78 percent of all households in the United States contained a married couple. Today, that number has declined to
48 percent.
#25 According to the U.S. Census Bureau,
49 percent of all Americans live in a home that receives direct monetary benefits from the federal government. Back in 1983,
less than a third of all Americans lived in a home that received direct monetary benefits from the federal government.
#26 In 1980, government transfer payments accounted for just
11.7 percent of all income. Today, government transfer payments account for
more than 18 percent of all income.
#27 In November 2008, 30.8 million Americans were on food stamps. Today,
47.1 million Americans are on food stamps.
#28 Right now,
one out of every four American children is on food stamps.
#29 As I wrote about
the other day, according
to one calculation the
number of Americans on food stamps now exceeds the combined populations
of “Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia,
Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska,
Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode
Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.”
#30 Back in 1965, only one out of every 50 Americans was on Medicaid. Today,
one out of every 6 Americans is on Medicaid, and things are about to get a whole lot worse. It is being projected that Obamacare will add
16 million more Americans to the Medicaid rolls.
#31 In 2001, the U.S. national debt was less than 6 trillion dollars. Today, it is over
16 trillion dollars and it is increasing by more than
100 million dollars every single hour.
#32 The U.S. national debt is now
more than 23 times larger than it was when Jimmy Carter became president.
#33 According to a PBS report from earlier this year, U.S. households that make $13,000 or less per year spend
9 percent of their incomes on lottery tickets. Could that possibly be accurate? Are people really that foolish?
#34 As the U.S. economy has declined, the American
people have been downing more antidepressants and other prescription
drugs than ever before. In fact, the American people spent
60 billion dollars more on prescription drugs in 2010 than they did in 2005.
So what are our “leaders” doing about all of this?
Not much.
They just continue to insist that everything is “just fine”.
Sadly, the truth is that they live in a world that is very different from most of the rest of us.
Barack Obama is getting ready to take
a 20 day vacation to Hawaii.
When was the last time you got to take a 20 day vacation?
And most of our “leaders” have no idea what it is like to struggle from month to month on a paycheck.
Overall,
more than half of the members of Congress are millionaires. We are led by wealthy men who are serving the interests of other wealthy men.
But the problem with our system is not limited to the president and
the members of Congress. The truth is that the political system in
America has become a colossal beast that just continues to grow no
matter who is in power. The political establishment of both parties is
totally dependent on this beast, and they will continue to feed it and
serve it because it has been very good to them. The following is from
an outstanding article
by Steve McCann…
